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Meze
Meze or mezza (, ) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in the Levant, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Iran. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A mezze may be served as a part of a multi-course meal or form a meal in itself. Mezze are often served with alcoholic beverages such as arak. Etymology The word is found in all the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, and originated from the Turkish word meaning a snack or appetiser. This, in turn, originated from the Persian word "mazzeh" or "mazzah" () 'taste' or 'relish'. Common dishes In Turkey, meze often consist of '' beyaz peynir'' (literally "white cheese"), ''kavun'' (sliced ripe melon), ''acılı ezme'' (hot pepper paste often with walnuts), '' haydari'' (thick strained yogurt with herbs), ''patlıcan salatası'' (cold eggplant salad), ''beyin salatası'' (brain salad), ''kalamar tava'' (fried calamari or squid), midye dolma and ''midye tava'' (stuffed or fried m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meze Lido Restaurant Adalar
Meze or mezza (, ) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in the Levant, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Iran. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A mezze may be served as a part of a multi-course meal or form a meal in itself. Mezze are often served with alcoholic beverages such as arak. Etymology The word is found in all the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, and originated from the Turkish word meaning a snack or appetiser. This, in turn, originated from the Persian word "mazzeh" or "mazzah" () 'taste' or 'relish'. Common dishes In Turkey, meze often consist of '' beyaz peynir'' (literally "white cheese"), ''kavun'' (sliced ripe melon), ''acılı ezme'' (hot pepper paste often with walnuts), '' haydari'' (thick strained yogurt with herbs), ''patlıcan salatası'' (cold eggplant salad), ''beyin salatası'' (brain salad), ''kalamar tava'' (fried calamari or squid), midye dolma and ''midye tava'' (stuffed or fried musse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turkish Cuisine
Turkish cuisine () is the cuisine of Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. It is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern European cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including those of Southeast Europe (Balkans), Central Europe, and Western Europe. The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm taking influences from and influencing Mesopotamian cuisine, Greek cuisine, Levantine cuisine, Egyptian cuisine, Balkan cuisine, along with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia (such as mantı, ayran, kaymak), creating a vast array of specialities. Turkish cuisine also includes dishes invented in the Ottoman palace kitchen. Turkish cuisine varies across the country. The cooking of Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, and rest of the Anatolia region inherits many elements of Ottoman court cuis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cacık
Tzatziki ( el, τζατζίκι), also known as tarator or cacık (), is a dip, soup, or sauce found in the cuisines of Southeast Europe and the Middle East. It is made of salted strained yogurt or diluted yogurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, sometimes with vinegar or lemon juice, and herbs such as dill, mint, parsley and thyme. It is served as a cold appetizer (''mezze''), a side dish, and as a sauce for souvlaki and gyros sandwiches and other foods. History ''Tarator'' was the name of a dish made of ground walnuts and vinegar in the Ottoman Empire. Dishes of various preparations in the region, including dips, salads, and sauces, acquired the name. In the Levant, ''taratur'' is a sauce based on tahini, while in Turkey and the Balkans it came to mean a combination of yogurt and cucumbers, sometimes with walnuts. It has become a traditional part of meze. Etymology The word ''tzatziki'' appeared in English around the mid-20th century as a loanword from Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haydari
Haydari is a type of yogurt dish similar to a thick ''cacık'', made from certain herbs and spices, combined with garlic and yogurt. It differs from cacık in that the recipe contains no cucumber and calls for strained yogurt or ''labne''. It is served purely as a ''meze'', being more pungently appetizing - by virtue of being saltier, more acidic and of a thicker consistency - than cacık. See also * List of dips * List of hors d'oeuvre * List of yogurt-based dishes and beverages * List of dairy products * Milk salad * Tarator * Qatiq * Raita * Cold borscht Borscht () is a sour soup common in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. In English, the word "borscht" is most often associated with the soup's variant of Ukrainian origin, made with red beetroots as one of the main ingredients, which give ... References {{Yogurts Turkish cuisine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jordanian Cuisine
Jordanian cuisine is a Middle Eastern cuisine that has the traditional style of food preparation originating from, or commonly used in, Jordan that has developed through centuries of social and political change. There are a wide variety of techniques used in Jordanian cuisine ranging from baking, sautéeing and grilling to stuffing of vegetables (courgettes, capsicum, eggplants, etc.). Meat is an important component of Jordanian cuisine. The most common types of meat in Jordan are lamb, beef, chicken and sometimes goat and camel meat. Also common in Jordanian cuisine is roasting or preparing foods with special sauces. Rice plays an important role in Jordanian cuisine. It is commonly served as a side dish to main meals, but there are also plenty of one-pot rice dishes such as ''maqloubah''. As one of the largest producers of olives in the world, olive oil is the main cooking oil in Jordan. Herbs, garlic, onion, tomato sauce and lemon are typical flavors found in Jorda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Levantine Cuisine
Levantine cuisine is the traditional cuisine of the Levant. Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of Levantine cuisine is ''meze'' including ''tabbouleh'', ''hummus'' and ''baba ghanoush''. Levantine dishes * Arabic coffee (قهوة عربية)—made from finely ground coffee beans with cardamom * ''Awameh'' (عوامة)—a fried-dough Levantine pastry similar to doughnut holes, made of deep-fried dough soaked in sugar syrup or honey and cinnamon, sometimes sprinkled with sesame seeds * ''Baba ghanoush'' (بابا غنوج)—a dip made from baked, mashed eggplant mixed with lemon, garlic, olive oil and various seasonings * ''Baklava'' (البقلاوة)—a dessert made of phyllo pastry filled with chopped nuts and soaked in syrup * ''Bamia'' (بامية)—a stew prepared with chunks of lamb meat with okra in a tomato-based sauce, served over rice * ''Basbousa'' (بسبوسة)—a Middle-Eastern small, sweet cake of cooked semolina soaked in rose water syrup, topped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilaki
Pilaki is a style of Turkish meze and may refer to several dishes that are cooked in a sauce made out of onion, garlic, carrot, potato, tomato or tomato paste, sugar, and olive oil. Beans prepared in this style (''fasulye pilaki'', with white beans, or '' barbunya pilaki'', with borlotti beans) are served cold, garnished with parsley and slices of lemon. Fish pilaki is also a popular recipe. In Greek cuisine, this style is known as ''plaki''. In Bulgarian cuisine the name is "plakiya". See also * Gigandes plaki, a similar Greek dish * Piyaz, another Turkish bean dish * Rajma, an Indian dish. *Red beans and rice Red beans and rice is an emblematic dish of Louisiana Creole cuisine (not originally of Cajun cuisine) traditionally made on Mondays with Kidney beans, vegetables (bell pepper, onion, and celery), spices (thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaf) an ..., a Louisiana Creole specialty. References Further reading *''The Sultan's Kitchen: A Turkish Cookbook''. Özca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuffed Mussels
Stuffed mussels ( tr, Midye dolma) or Midye is a generic name for plump orange mussels that contain herbed and spiced rice. Midye dolma is a popular and common street food snack in the coastal cities of Turkey. History The historical preparation of the ''midye dolm''a is generally attributed to Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. According to TH. Maggakis' 1888 work ''Bizans Salnamesi'' Armenians had used big mussels and prepared the dish using sheep's tail fat or "zibir yağı", a solid fat imported from Siberia. Balıkhane Nazırı Ali Rıza Bey (1842-1928) also notes that in brickworks owner Şahbaz Efendi's Armenian cook was preparing stuffed mussels. During the 19th century it was reported that İstanbulite Turkish women were also cooking stuffed mussels. In the 1960s ''midye dolma'' preparation and business has become to be dominated by immigrants from Mardin, who had at the time recently immigrated to İstanbul's Galata district. In the following decades they have kept the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arak (drink)
Arak or araq ( ar, ﻋﺮﻕ) is a distilled Levantine spirit of the anise drinks family. It is translucent and unsweetened. History Arak evolved from the Arab invention of alembic distillation in the 12th century. As the vast majority of Arabs were Muslim at that time, the original usage of the distilled alcohol might have been for the production of perfumes and kohl, a cosmetic. However, the distribution of arak and its derivatives – ranging from rakija in the Balkans to arrack in Indonesia and Malaysia – closely follows the pattern of the Arab-Islamic conquests, and in each of these locales the distilled alcohol is used as a beverage. Traditional ingredients Arak is traditionally made of only two ingredients, grapes and aniseed. Aniseeds are the seeds of the anise plant, and when crushed, their oil provides arak with a slight licorice taste. Etymology The word ''arak'' comes from Arabic ' (, meaning 'perspiration'). Its pronunciation varies depending on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolma
Dolma (Turkish for “stuffed”) is a family of stuffed dishes associated with Ottoman cuisine, and common in modern national cuisines of regions and countries that once were part of the Ottoman Empire. Some types of dolma are made with whole vegetables, fruit, offal or seafood, while others are made by wrapping grape, cabbage, or other leaves around the filling. Wrapped dolma are known as '' sarma''. They can be served warm or at room temperature. History Stuffed vegetable dishes have been a part of Middle Eastern cuisine for centuries. Recipes for stuffed eggplant have been found in Medieval Arabic cookbooks and, in Ancient Greek cuisine, fig leaves stuffed with sweetened cheese were called . The word dolma, of Turkish origin, means "something stuffed" or "filled". (Turkish taxis are called '' dolmuş'' for similar reasons). In some of the former Ottoman countries, native names have been retained or have blended with Turkish language terms, for example, in the Arab s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Cuisine
Greek cuisine ( Greek: Ελληνική Κουζίνα) is the cuisine of Greece and the Greek diaspora. In common with many other cuisines of the Mediterranean, it is founded on the triad of wheat, olive oil, and wine. It uses vegetables, olive oil, grains, fish, and meat, including pork, poultry, veal and beef, lamb, rabbit, and goat. Other important ingredients include pasta (for example hilopites), cheeses, lemon juice, herbs, olives, and yogurt. Bread made of wheat is ubiquitous; other grains, notably barley, are also used, especially for paximathia. Common dessert ingredients include nuts, honey, fruits, and filo pastries. It continues traditions from Ancient Greek and Byzantine cuisine, while incorporating Balkan, Turkish and Italian influences. History Greek cuisine is part of the culture of Greece and is recorded in images and texts from ancient times. Its influence spread to ancient Rome and then throughout Europe and beyond. Ancient Greek cuisine was cha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melon
A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The word ''melon'' derives from Latin ', which is the latinization of the Greek (''mēlopepōn''), meaning "melon",. itself a compound of (''mēlon''), "apple, treefruit (''of any kind'')" and (''pepōn''), amongst others "a kind of gourd or melon". Many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of cantaloupes. History Melons originated in Africa or in the hot valleys of Southwest Asia, especially Iran and India, from where they gradually began to appear in Europe toward the end of the Western Roman Empire. Melons are known to have been grown by the ancient Egyptians. However, recent discoveries of melon seeds dated between 1350 and 1120 BCE in Nuragic sacred wells have shown that melons were first brought to Europe b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
